1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains mostly to flexible irregular shape ultracapacitors having various footprint shapes, to conform into non-linear space of various electronic and electromechanical products. Ultracapacitor cell of this invention comprises at least two thin flexible and porous electrodes with a porous separator there between, all sealed in a flexible, thin, moisture proof pouch and soaked with a liquid electrolyte. The electrodes have current collectors with sealed tabs exiting from said pouch, to be connected to a circuitry of any desirable product.
2. Description of Prior Art
Prior art ultracapacitors also referred to as supercapacitors or electrochemical capacitors, have cylindrical or prismatic shape with rolled or flat cells in a hard metal container, which is non-conformal and difficult to fit into an irregular energy storage space of various devices. Examples are; cylindrical ultracapacitors of Maxwell Corporation and rectangular ultracapacitors of Nippon-Chemicon Company. Another known prismatic ultracapacitor packaging is having the cells sealed in a soft rectangular or square aluminum foil, coated by a heat sealable plastic layer. However, these ultracapacitors still have a linear prismatic shape, similar to the hard metal prismatic casings, and therefore have similar problems with fitting into an irregular space. To address this problem, others have proposed to connect many small ultracapacitors to fill the desired shape of space, but this is very expensive and time consuming construction with high percentage of the active space wasted by connectors. The instant invention provides solution of these problems by having flexible, thin flat cells cut into any desirable shape or outline of the footprint, to fill the space efficiently. Several of these shaped and conformed ultracapacitor cells can be also stacked, and also bended to follow a radius of a cylindrical container or similar structure. Ultracapacitors are currently used as boosters and protectors of batteries from overloads, or as sole electrochemical energy storage units, when short, high rate electric currents are absorbed or needed to be delivered.